Eagle Scouts hope to soar with Mount Prospect distillery

A pair of Eagle Scouts, one from Iowa and another from Chicago, are teaming to open a distillery in Mount Prospect.

The Mount Prospect village board last week granted Matthew Nurre and Jesse Zien a new classification of liquor license that will allow them to manufacture distilled spirits under the name Two Eagles Distillery.

It will operate at 1852 S. Elmhurst Road, in the south end of the village, focusing on the production of vodka, whiskeys and craft cocktails.

"We're big on doing things right," Zien said. "That's one of the things in Scouting they teach you. How to handle situations. Be prepared."

The distillery will sell its own product from the start, the owners say.

"A lot of people open up and they buy other people's product and bottle it and say it's theirs," Zien said, adding that the business will work with local farmers to obtain grain.

Nurre, who hails from Iowa and now lives in Mount Prospect, is a master distiller who double-majored in chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Iowa. Zien has an MBA from Loyola University in Chicago and has experience in operations at a company with $1.5 billion in sales.

Village officials gave the concept an enthusiastic reception.

"You're putting Mount Prospect on the map for your product," said Trustee Richard Rogers.